SAN DIEGO -- Sometimes, the playoffs come down to a game of inches.
Manny Machado smashed a potential game-tying fly ball to deep center field in the eighth inning that would have tied up Game 4 of the National League Division Series if it ... just … kept … going.
But the Statcast-projected 406 feet weren’t enough, as Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell extended his glove to snare it before it could clear the wall and change the course of the NLDS elimination game in the Padres' 3-1 loss.
“It’s just unfortunate, man,” Machado said. “Nice play. Should have hit it harder.”
Machado brought Petco Park to its feet with loud contact against right-hander Abner Uribe on a sinker low in the zone. He blew his bubble gum, dropped his bat and watched the ball soar at 106.7 mph.
"I thought that was wayyy gone,” said Uribe.
"I just took a deep breath and said, 'Whatever's going to happen is going to happen, and we just have to respond and be ready for the next pitch,’” said Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
With the crowd bursting at the seams with anticipation, Mitchell backed up to the short wall in center field for the catch.
"It kind of just happened,” said Mitchell. “Instinctually, just do what I do. Make a good jump and see what happens."
As Mitchell briefly left his feet to make the catch, he backed up to the San Diego fans who nearly interfered behind him.
"I got nudged a little bit,” said Mitchell. “I'm not quite sure if I got grabbed, if I just got poked by someone's glove or whatever, but it worked out."
Machado gripped his helmet with both hands in disappointment as Fernando Tatis Jr. had to run back to first base.
“Man, it's a tough one to swallow,” said Tatis. “It’s Petco Park, you know. It’s been our home stadium, so we know where we’re playing. It’s a tough one. [He] put a great swing on a tough pitch, and it just didn't go our side this time.”
For as deep as the ball was hit, even if Mitchell had not caught it, it would have been a home run in 19 ballparks -- not including Petco Park. It would, though, have been a homer at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
“We've played in Petco all year,” said Padres manager Craig Stammen. “We know that spot in the stadium, the balls don't go out very easily and you've really got to pop one. He put a great swing on a tough pitch, one of his best swings of the season, honestly. … That ball fell short, but man, what a player and what a leader he was for us at the end.”
Machado knows exactly what this feels like.
Nine years ago, when Adam Jones robbed him in one of the World Baseball Classic’s most memorable moments, Machado was denied in a nearly identical spot. Machado called that catch by Jones back in 2017 “something else.” Jones chimed in on the coincidence Tuesday night.
And it happened again just two years ago at Petco Park. On May 1, 2024, then-Reds center fielder Stuart Fairchild covered 94 feet to track down Machado’s deep fly ball, leap and extend his glove over the wall for an impressive robbery of a three-run homer.
Machado’s near-homer in Game 4 embodied the near-hits and misses of the closely fought series, one in which neither team led by more than two runs at any point.
To that end, per the Elias Sports Bureau, this NLDS was the second series of at least three games in postseason history in which neither team led by more than two runs at any point.
The first was the 1915 World Series between the Red Sox and Phillies.
“It burns,” said Machado. “It’s pain. This team, we fought all year. We dealt with a lot as a group, overcame a lot. It stings right now, for sure.”